The Spiritual Life: A Treatise on Ascetical and Mystical Theology / Very Rev Adolphe Tanqueray SSDD

The Spiritual Life by Fr. Adolphe Tanquerey, S.S., D.D. Published in English in 1930. The Spritual Life has established a reputation as undoubtedly the finest, most comprehensive and best-respected one-volume treatise on the spiritual life ever written. Clear, thorough, easy to read, orthodox, authoritative, beautifully organized, logically developed, lively and practical, the book covers the whole field of spirituality. Based on Sacred Scripture, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, especially St. Thomas Aquinas, as well as other great Saints and spiritual writers of all ages. In his own words, he covers "the teachings commonly received in the Church," with little space given to disputed questions. (Preface, page vii). His approach, moreover, is based on the solid judgment that dogma leads to devotion, that it is the foundation of ascetical theology, which naturally flows out of it. "The second part of the book contains a more detailed exposition of the special means of advancing along the Three Ways towards the heights of perfection." (Preface, page vii). The Spiritual Life was written primarily for priests and seminarians, but also for religious and the laity who "are seeking to live a thoroughly Christian life." This is a book that answers virtually every question about the spiritual life, a book that can easily be used as a text-book, a devotional treatise for spiritual reading, or a handy source book for researching specific subjects. It is so comprehensive and easy to read and use that it belongs in every Catholic's library. Containing 1,599 numbered sections, it covers every aspect of the spiritual life and is a book that explains each subject so well that it has been in steady demand since it first appeared. 

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